13/13 Season Three, Episode 14: Playing for Keeps-Scarecrow and Mrs King

So the badwoman’s been nabbed.. and it’s time for the Tag.
Back in the Shenandoah tennis ranch foyer the camera pans from some guy simultaneously flirting with two women (What’s that all about?!)
to Francine walked toward Tina and Tony.Francine: Good news…
– your father’s got the shuttle out of Malawi this morning. He’ll beat you and Tony home by an hour.(Lee is on the phone in the background )
[LOL there’s a shuttle out of Malawi? I wouldn’t have thought there was enough demand! Maybe he has a private jet..]
Francine doesn’t pick up on their body language – it’s not good news.. it’s scary..Tina: I am so nervous about talking to Daddy. Every time I think about it I get terrible butterflies.Tony: Yeah, well, he’s just gonna have to face facts.Francine: Well, wait a minute, wait, I’ve got an idea. Tony, why don’t you play a couple of sets of tennis with him before you talk to him?[Francine? Giving relationship advice???!!! Was this originally Amanda’s line???!! ]Tina: Oh no, no, no – Daddy hates to lose at tennis. He’d be in a terrible mood.Francine: All-right, well Tony will just make sure he doesn’t lose.[Okay this is freaking me out!!! Francine isn’t suppose to be nice, offer good advice or be especially charming in such a down to earth way!!! me thinks this was originally Amanda’s lines!!! Shudder!!! Guys.. I’m really scared. Foetal position scared!]Tony: Not bad.Tina: Francine, you’ve been great. Thanks for everything.Francine: Oh, it’s nothing.Tony: Yeah, you guys are really fantastic.Francine: Take care now.Tina: Bye bye.Francine: Bye.Tina and Tony walk off.. and someone who looks like Francine turns to join Lee.
She goes to tap Lee on the shoulder, but I don’t think she ends up needing to..

Francine again is interrupting his phone call- she’s in a great mood!
(to Lee) …Well, that’s that,… …just like old days huh?.. …You and me out in the field again.Lee smiles and humours Francine.. but.. he’s not feelin it..Lee: Yeah, yeah. [Not old days.. and not old Lee]Francine: This calls for a celebration.Lee: Well, I’d really like to but, ah,… …I’ve got to get back to DC… – I’ve got some things to wrap up yet.Francine: Wrap up? What?……What could be so important? We’re here! We finally have a chance to relax a little bit,.. …you know enjoy the Club… …and file up an expense account.Lee gives Francine a grin:
and lets out a bit of a half hearted chuckle
as he holds up the phone – the receiver covered- and licks his lips.
Francine notices the phone. Finally..
And her smile fades.Francine:…Amanda?Lee wordlessly agrees..
[Hold the phone- Lee wants to talk to Amanda!!! 🙂 ]Looking forward to hearing what you make of Lee’s wordless reaction here. I think this is one of those reactions BB described as vague and open to us making whatever we like out of it. LOL. I’ll go with Lee saying to Francine: yep! It’s Amanda.. and what of it?! bye bye now.
This time, Francine wordlessly responds..
Also looking forward to hearing what you all make of her reaction!
I’m guessing there’s a bit of stoic disbelief here.. like ‘well! I can’t quite believe this is what I think it is!’

Francine isn’t going to show any deep emotions she’s much too tough on the outside to let anything really show here..
She doesn’t like it..but she moves on- she knows when she’s beat- and in this instance, Lee has made it clear his thoughts are focused elsewhere.

Things are not like old times.. Even Francine can see that – but does she see the full extent of how much things have changed?? or is this episode a rude shock that sets her mental wheels in motion when it comes to Lee and Amanda?
I think Lee makes it clear he prefers Amanda – but this to me doesn’t mean he is saying I love her I want to be with her. After all, Francine is not a romantic partner to Lee – Lee’s wanting to be with Amanda could be viewed as Lee missing his professional partner.. but…Lee not wanting to party? and not wanting to take advantage of the flirty women there looking to party? I think this all gives Francine ‘food for thought’ and she doesn’t yet know what to make of things..
Or, this is her last ditch attempt to put behind her the doubts she had about Lee in FFFT – and this is the final nail in that coffin so to speak.
Is this Francine’s abandonment issues coming up? that come out in FFFT? Is this what contributed to her FFFT outburst?
Hmm… I can see this working either way – I look forward to exploring both the episode order options with you guys – at the moment I’m thinking it can work either way..We can discuss this in comments maybe. There’s a huge number of things going on between FFFT/PFK for a number of characters – and before this walk.. I never would have picked that!! lol!!!

Still.. on to Lee and Amanda now!
We cut to Amanda wondering why Lee hasn’t been talking to her..Amanda: Lee, what’s going on?I see Francine as stoic, but completely unimpressed as she walks off.. what do you think?Lee: Uh, I’m sorry Amanda,…
…it was just a little trouble over my bill…[Ouch.. I think there could be a double meaning here.. Lee is clearing his ledger with Francine maybe?!]
…Now, what was I saying?[Interesting.. he doesn’t tell her about Francine.. given the last phone call he probably doesn’t want to even mention she was there!]Amanda: Um, you were telling me about why they were still after Tina.[Ah so Lee had been recounting events to Amanda! Prepare for the major clunker!!!! or.. should I say… careful not to fall into massive approaching plot crater!]Lee: They’re terrorists who wanted to make a statement, and Tina was the most visible way of doing it.[We hear Lee say this, the camera still on Amanda]
Rofl!!! hey that time machine has kicked in again! Are we now ready for the quarter finals everyone?? 😉 Because I’m pretty sure Amanda called Lee earlier to tell Lee why the baddies were still after Tina and that it wasn’t over. Aaand I’m pretty sure that Amanda was telling Lee they wanted to take out Tina in the most visible way?!! oh dear.. Clunker!!!
Maybe Amanda was all drugged up at the time and doesn’t remember??!! Me thinks Amanda wasn’t the only person drugged up… Ahem… where were the script editors when they were filming this??!! How could KJ and BB not have noticed? I think they didn’t notice because KJ filmed this – and BB added in the voice over later – thus why we hear Lee and see Amanda.. they probably didn’t even know what Lee was going to say to Amanda at the time…And.. we can blame chaos from KJ’s needing to be written out of most scenes I guess.
Shall we pretend Amanda never called Lee and told him about the baddies’ plot.. 😉
Anyway.. let’s just focus on the swoony happenings and leave the lame-o plot craters to one side for now!Amanda: You really have been working hard, haven’t you?[Such a general response.. I think it could have been in response to whatever they later decided to have Lee say- and thus it’s not their fault they both have no memory of previous events!]Lee: Oh yah, yah, yah.[Lee didn’t want to tell her he had been working hard.. What’s your point Lee?! what do you want Amanda to know?](at this point the music kicks in)…Well, the point is,… …it was just – um…[I get the feeling Lee is not only searching for the words here.. he is himself searching for the meaning and to understand what is it??]
(Realisation dawns..) – it was different.Amanda: How was it different? Lee: Well, you know…— I mean, you get—
…you get used to working with one person, you get to know their—(the shot cuts to Amanda grinning like a Cheshire cat)… their habits,…
…their rhythms,(Amanda covers the phone so Lee can’t hear how happy she is!)…you know,… …the whole potpourri [wha???!!] of personality.
We cut back to Amanda again.. who is now a very satisfied and contented lady Amanda: I missed you too.
Amanda doesn’t hide her happiness anymore..
she got out of Lee what she needed to hear from the looks of things: I think she needed to hear that he missed her!!
We cut back to Lee too.. he also looks to be one very contented man!
I also get the vibe that this is a new realisation to Lee.. He missed Amanda, and she missed him – awhhh..
I think Lee’s realisation is even bigger than I miss Amanda. I think Lee realises it was different – because he is different. Because he knows Amanda so well and is use to working with her- he is now one half of a team- and she’s that other half- so when they are not together it doesn’t feel right anymore 🙂
What do you make of his reaction everyone?
He’s thoughtful..
And then he smiles a big smile..
It’s like he needs a moment to savour this-it’s important..
And.. then he really enjoys it! The episode ends with Lee grinning away.. dimples on show.. and.. life’s good!

Well do I really need to say it? lol.. I will anyway I’m busting to hear what you all think of this final scene!

PFK can’t be as big an episode as some of the more massive Lee/Amanda episodes.. like say- ship of spies or Utopia now.. but.. it has a significance for the characters and was an opportunity to explore things that wouldn’t ordinarily have been explored! This episode is a surprising mixed bag!
We got an insight into Amanda, and how she struggled with not being able to accompany Lee – she bristled at Lee seeming to be able to replace her so easily and revealed some niggling insecurity. In the end though, Amanda is reassured – she gets to find out through all this that Lee can’t replace her, he doesn’t want to – and he missed her.

We’ve seen Lee wrestle with Amanda being irreplaceable before – in Odds on a dead pigeon, but that was about Amanda as a friend and person (IMHO). Here in this episode? To me this is mostly about their professional partnership (but then the romance is always somewhat involved!).
Amanda finds out she’s irreplaceable in Lee’s professional life too!

I see this episode as being a pair with Wrong Way Home. Sound strange? hear me out!

In WWH, Lee had a glimpse of what it would be like if she went back to Joe- and if he ‘lost’ her from his personal life..
In this episode, IMHO Lee has a glimpse of what it is like to lose Amanda from his professional life.. and in both episodes – Lee concludes that he doesn’t want to lose her, and he doesn’t shy away from that.. it draws him closer to her. If this ep is before FFFT, this would make this ep right after WWH- a big kaaaa-pow!!! for Lee and Amanda in their growing closer together..

For me, Lee integrating their personal and professional relationships was the missing piece of the puzzle.. they are intermingled.. one affects the other – so for Lee to be able to move forward, I think he had to resolve this professional aspect also. This episode helps him to do that. [and how does this play into Lee’s quandary in FFFT- where he had to find the poison first and then find Amanda?! whooo – I like to see FFFT as a test for Lee of whether his new integrated identity can work – professional Lee must put romantic Lee on hold for the sake of innocent burger eaters 😉 ]
I also think Amanda needed for Lee to resolve this in order for her to move forward too – a romantic relationship with Lee could jeopardise her work which IMHO she values greatly.. maybe now she is free to explore moving forward with Lee?? Am I making sense?? what do you all think?

Lee can see he misses Amanda.. and he can also see how very much the old Scarecrow has changed – which can play well into the events of fast food for thought.. and it sets up Lee making a bit of a clumsy move on Amanda in the doorway (with his field experience.. you know!). And then, moving on to OBDOBD and their closeness in that ep, and that tag which IMHO is Lee really starting to woo Amanda But I also don’t see anything that rules out FFFT being first.. I think it can work either way.

At the moment, I prefer PFK, FFFT, then OBDOBD.
I’ve mentioned a few moments already which I think played well with that order. But I’d like to explore both ideas fully before settling on one.. and I’d like to see what happens with Francine in future eps.. I can’t remember!
Maybe I need to watch it in both orders.. lol.. Anyone going to watch both orders too?? I’d like to explore both versions with anyone interested in exploring the possibilities.. Let me know!!
So now we are finished walking through this ep – what do you make of the title?? Do tell!!! I’m seeing it mainly as Lee and Amanda’s work partnership being solidified- so their partnership is now ‘for keeps’..
It’s been a unique journey this ep.. but looking forward to seeing Lee and Amanda together as a team – I missed them being together

So what did you all make of this tag? and what of this episode? Anyone have an opinion about episode order? Okay bye all and thanks so much for joining me on this journey!!

58 responses to “13/13 Season Three, Episode 14: Playing for Keeps-Scarecrow and Mrs King”

OK, I think I found my train of thought again. 🙂 If we keep the episode order with OBDOBD and FFFT coming first, I’d say: Francine noticed something was “off” with Lee. It might have been the first time she’s spent a significant amount of time in his company – at the stake-out – and alone. They most likely don’t get to talk much at the office, they’d both be too busy. And the changes in Lee aren’t so obvious (yet) as to be seen easily. So in OBDOBD Francine might have noticed for the first time Lee had changed. Maybe she needled Billy to put her on the assignment in FFFT as back-up so she could watch Lee (and Amanda) some more. She might have been wrong that first time around and wants to confirm she really saw the changes she thought she saw.

In PFK she’s definitely testing the waters. She’s trying to go for “business as usual” – only that she soon realizes business is NOT as usual. In fact, Lee has no interest anymore in the usual stuff (partying and so on). He’s definitely not “her” Lee anymore, that’s pretty clear from that last short conversation here. I guess that produced a whole bunch of reactions from her. First of all, a kind of pouty “but he was MY friend first!” because of course she’d be jealous that Lee prefers to be with Amanda instead of her. Some anger of course because you don’t just turn down Francine Desmond, no, sir! Most important, though, is the “people leave” thing, at least imho. We know Francine’s got issues with people leaving her and we can guess that whatever happened had a much bigger impact on her than Amanda’s divorce (Joe leaving her) had on Amanda. Amanda still trusts people – Francine doesn’t.

And now Lee’s “leaving”, too. Old Lee is gone. And Francine doesn’t know how to handle new Lee, how they’ll get along, how things will change between them. That’ll scare her. And my prediction is: When Francine’s scared, she gets mean and nasty. Can’t admit you’re scared, right? Or let people see they’re getting to you. Let’s see how things progress from here.

Sorry for repeating myself in some parts. Just getting back on the train. 😉

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t see this relationship advice out of line for Francine. I think she is good at conceiving convincing covers and manipulating people into doing what she wants, so this sort of seems like an easy one for her. Maybe too easy, but if Tina’s dad is wealthy and over 30, then isn’t that what Francine specializes in? Surely she must know a thing or two.

Oh gosh. I actually feel sorry for Francine here. She is not happy that Lee is choosing Amanda over her. Again. It is NOT like old times, Francine! I don’t think this is a rude shock. Lee was talking to Amanda earlier and Francine even guesses that he is talking with Amanda now. I think if it were earlier in the series she may have made a quip about it being a Randi or some “child” that Lee dates.

Can I say that I love how his voice dips a bit lower and weaker when he says, “Well, you know.” Haha! He is affected! He doesn’t want to admit anything to her! But his voice can’t hide it.

Awww, how sweet. They missed each other. And I’m glad Amanda says it because Lee wasn’t going to. I think he was afraid to admit it to her. He has finally accepted and appreciates Amanda as his work partner and she knows it. How far they have come!!

Iwsod, I agree with you about Lee needing to figure out the professional aspect of his relationship with Amanda. I think at this point he has finally come to terms with the fact that Amanda is a good partner for him – she has strengths he lacks – and he enjoys working with her. I think he also can finally admit to himself that she really does help him on cases and it’s not always just luck or intuition. So yes, this case helps him along – to me this case helps him to step through the first level of development in terms of their professional relationship. I think there is still more work to be done though before the professional piece of the puzzle is dealt with fully.

I want to change what I said. This is not the first level of development for their professional relationship – I was using that more symbolically. Amanda’s been developing professionally since the very beginning – there are even a couple of posts on her growth through the first two seasons. Lee is well on his way to fully making his way through the stages of their professional development.

What is new here is that Lee missed her or at the very least was wishing she could have been there to work the case with him instead of Francine. That is a new admission/feeling for him I think when it comes to his work. I think his ways are changing and he no longer views things the same way he used to – and the same way Francine does. He’s not interested in having fun and racking up an expense account like he used to be. He’s all grown up and looking for something more.

When I first saw this episode I totally missed Lee in the background on the phone. Of course, after reruns and several viewings I see him plain as day. And what a nice view it is.

Sometimes I like playing with episode order, it gives so many more chances to go back and look at the episodes again. However, my time these days is still pretty strained, although there is a tiny light at the end of a long tunnel.

I think there are some clues in the titles to these episodes. In OBDOBD you can see Lee and Amanda still sort of dancing around with where things are for them personally. Professionally you can see how Lee truly treats Amanda as a partner and knows she’ll be right in the mix of things. Francine is still trying to align herself with Lee and points out to Amanda how they do things on stakeouts. She’s trying to indicate that she and Lee dance well together without Amanda. Amanda is somewhat embarrassed that Dotty’s has expressed what she is feeling about Lee, but both Lee and Amanda brush the incident aside and get on with the case.

In FFFT they are all given things to think about. Lee overtly chooses Amanda and in front of Francine indicates that Amanda is the perfect choice as backup. He’s already thought that out, along with the room arrangements. After the hallway shenanigans and freezer comments along their reactions once rescued you get the idea that both Amanda and Francine are giving some thought to things.

And in PFK, it’s for all the marbles. Francine keeps pushing, serving up her barbs, but she’s not making any points and not getting whatever it is she wants. By the end of this episode Amanda is made to feel better about whatever was causing her hesitation and she has a better sense of where things are with Lee. He too has a better sense of where things are personally and professionally and how it all works together. It’s like some things truly clicked into place for him.

I wonder, if Francine thinks Lee is still the Scarecrow that he once was, would he actually be spending time with her or would he be like the guy we first see and trying to hit on a few women? Were they each other’s wing-men? Maybe in the old days they partied together but left with other people.

Hey Valerie – I’m super busy too at the mo!
But sooo glad to see you stop by and share your thoughts!

Interesting! so you agree with Claudia’s and my exchange re how maybe it was hinted that was Lee by the piano there with the two women.

Thanks too for sharing your new perspective on the episode titles – a very interesting idea! I’m seeing this all very differently to you! but I enjoyed reading your different point of view 🙂 Interesting that you seem to be putting OBDOBD first of the three. After PFK you don’t think they are still dancing around things at all? Hmm this one is hard to discuss without going ahead! I’ll just say that I think there would still be plenty of dancing going on until they speak the words and make promises.. If or when that happens – we’ll talk about it then at JWWM 🙂

Sorry no time to respond fully as I would wish.. but I’ll keep this all in mind when I watch the eps in different order this week.
I’m away half the week and won’t get to write any of the walk but I’m pretty sure I’ll get a chance to watch a few eps where I am..
byeeee and hope that little light at the end of tunnel gets brighter and larger soon Valerie!

I’m not set on any episode order in stone, at least not yet. I just like playing around with some to the things that occur in each episode and where each individual character may be at any given time. I, too think there is still a bit of dancing going on, but there seems to be no one cutting in while on the dance floor. I just wish they’d done more real dancing. There is just so much to see when you look at the different perspectives of each character and I love how we all have different perspectives of what we see. And I especially love that we can all come here and just delve into all of that. And thanks, Iwsod, for the good wishes on brighter light.

Concerning Lee and Amanda’s dance, I have always thought that this show was about two people doing a very dangerous and courageous job while at the same time helping each other to overcome many fears. I think their relationship dance is about working out those fears and really putting them to rest. Not many people do that, they ignore their fears or try to push them aside and charge ahead and often the niggling fears come back and do damage. But I don’t see that in Lee and Amanda. So far they have worked through some big ones and yet something appears to still be holding them back. So we continue to watch them dance. It’s great choreography 😉

Holy Hannah! I was only gone for a few hours and came back to a comment section that had doubled in size. For a silly episode, it sure has us all chatting. I agree that unlike some of the real Season 2 problems with episode order, the order of PFK and FFFT doesn’t really matter much in the development of the Lee/Amanda relationship but playing with the order does seem to allow for some give and take on how much of a d–k you think Francine is at any giving moment and what her reasons are. The funny thing is that I actually like Francine better after these episodes – no matter what the order – because they show the cracks in the Desmond facade.

Now it’s a long weekend here in Canada and I feel like I should take one for the team and re-watch all these episodes to decide. Why is my arm suddenly rubber and who is twisting it? 🙂 Happy weekend all.

So did you rewatch and decide? Like you, I like Francine more after these episodes as well for exactly the same reason you state. The longer the series goes on, the more I like Francine because we get to know more about her.

I also like Francine a lot more after these episodes. Her character is revealed to be more nuanced and ‘human’. I have to say that Khell has played a big part in helping me like her more 🙂 . I also think MS has done a great job; it must have been very hard for her having to pick up ‘Amanda’s’ words and try to make them into ‘Francine’s’.

In a very skimmed way, yes. And although our questions into episode order still hold true no matter what order you play them, I think that once it became clear that this was going to have to come later in the broadcast schedule, the writers worked things in to make it make more sense following FFFT. For instance, Lee’s “Yeah I know” when Amanda groans over hearing where they were going could be because the last time they’d had this kind of mission, they had been stuck in a midgrade hotel with views of the parking lot and this time they could have been having “coffee” at a resort.

And then once they realized they were writing for Francine, I think they may have just gone with the sheer fun of writing OTT Francine, because seriously, who wouldn’t enjoy writing funny stuff for Martha Smith?

Lee as “grownup”: well there’s some foreshadowing for a future episode that I am going to save up until we get there.

Do I care what order they come in? Not really because unlike the beginning of this season, the relationship two steps forward, one back is a lot less jarring here than some stuff in the past (and the future). 🙂

Agree. Speaking as a Francine fan, there ARE plenty of moments in the first few seasons – well, basically all seasons – where that woman just makes me facepalm so hard and go: C’mon, Francine, you’re better than that! What’s with the petty, childish barbs? But there’s some later episodes where you can see it shine through that she’s not just the generic “office witch”. Like Janet said, when the cracks start to appear in the facade she puts on.

The episode that “sold” me on Francine (cemented my preference for her as my favourite character) was FFFT. The freezer scene. One short phrase and it explains so much about her and how she acts towards other people.

So I have a couple of other thoughts about what has happened to the characters. Of course they will be influenced by the order of the episodes (FFFT before PFK) But this isn’t to convince anyone, just me remarking on how I see the characters being affected by whats happened so far.

So… we know that Lee has changed, but Amanda and Francine don’t. Well Francine has been blind, because why would he change? And Amanda has only seen glimpses and I think she is the cautious type and would be slow to jump on the bandwagon only because this would involve her whole heart. When I hear Francine’s comments in the freezer I think she is incredulous that Lee would ever really change and she wants to use her words as a pin in what she sees as Amanda’s balloon. Francine has her own reason, maybe a slight bit of that could be jealousy due to Amanda’s easy rise at the Agency, maybe because she has experienced Scarecrow and it would be an altogether difficult thing for her to swallow if the amazing ladies man Lee ever settled for anyone, especially the suburban housewife want to be spy. But I don’t think Francine even really considered that as an option at first, maybe she had caught some whiffs of it in the ha;;way that night in FFFT, but she was still in her own brand of denial. So she tells Amanda not to count on Lee, people leave.
Amanda has known being left. She was left by a husband, a father of her two children. I wonder if Francine’s comments stir up a bit of doubt in Amanda about what she was thinking about Lee. Maybe Francine is right? Maybe she dismisses it, because after all Amanda really does know Lee. But even a hint of doubt can stir something up.
I keep seeing that ending shot outside of the freezer. Lee looking at Amanda, Francine looking at Lee and Amanda staring off into space. To me that is the perfect set up for this episode (of course there is that warm up dinner between that and this episode, hmm, what to make of that?)
But I wonder if this episode confirms both women’s thoughts. For Amanda, yes Lee is as she knows him and even better, he really missed ME!!! Me!. big sigh of relief, big butterflies in the belly!
For Francine, “OMG!!! He WOULD really rather go back to DC and be with Amanda than stay here and party! I can not believe it!!! Wha is my world coming to if a man like Lee Stetson can get so wrapped up in a woman like Amanda King!?!”

And so continues my daily internal conversation about episode order: if this came first, would this last bit of realization by Francine about Lee and Amanda have caused her relatively OTT reaction in the freezer where she tells Amanda not to expect him to ride in on his white horse because people leave? She’s still annoyed at realizing how close they are and also that in some way, Lee has left her behind? Of course, all of this would require us to believe the writers put way more effort into this messy rewrite than they obviously did. 😀

It would be interesting to see the original script because there’s the possibility that at minimum, Francine and Billy would have been there for the arrests, etc and that this Lee/Francine conversation could have been her suggesting they stay to party and Lee making it clear he was going back to DC with Amanda. And for me there is still the question of how long KJ was away and how much that threw off getting this episode together.

And then again damn it Morley is so convincing for why this comes after FFFT. LOL

And you’ve got me thinking and re-thinking the order. Francine’s comment to Amanda in FFFT could be her tipping point (my original thought, which puts FFFT after this) but that was her way of pushing Amanda’s buttons and letting that frustration come out. So how would she show her annoyance toward Lee? Internalize? Walk away? That makes an argument for either one coming first. I wish we could see that original script too.

You can see a script Sara, head to http://www.smk-land.com and sign up (super easy to do just create a user name and password) then.. log in > click on ‘steno pool’ > you’ll find the scripts there

the script being hosted at smk land is a revised shooting script dated 11 December (I wonder.. does anyone know the date KJ’s dad passed away?) – I think we’ve seen lots of times a rev.shooting draft was nothing like what we got. Final drafts seem to be the most errr.. final.. As I just mentioned to Cindy, for me the script won’t help the order question.. I’m just going to try and go with what we saw in the episodes.. but that’s just me – if you think the script is relevant by all means go for it and let us know how this all fits together for you 🙂

If anyone gets over to read the script – I’d love to hear what it says – I don’t have time for that myself right now..

So I looked through the original script. I have to say it makes my head hurt less. Lots of the Amanda lines that were given to both Francine and Lee just sound better in the original script. Not surprising, of course. Although we would not have the Francine/Lee moments in this episode, which do show the old Lee to new Lee pretty strongly. I think it helps the story a little that we got these scenes. Too bad it wasn’t a better re-write.

Also had an idea about that deleted dancing/cuddling scene mentioned in 2/13 of PFK (Gail posted a few lines) One way that scene might actually work is if Amanda fell asleep on the couch and had a dream about her and Lee. I could picture her waking up on the couch, a little disappointed that it had been a dream. I’m not sure that there ‘has to be’ proof that Amanda is missing Lee or that she wishes she could be dancing with him here (or maybe it’s more fan fiction material?. 😉 Just wondered if they cut it before they found out about KJ’s dad. We already see her disappointment in the beginning when she can’t join him at this event.

Hey Janet – please reflect away.. it’s always nice to see someone is thinking along the same lines as me if that’s the case! 🙂
Write away! We haven’t heard what you think – so it’s not repeating at all 🙂

Some of our best ideas come as we write as we think… go for it.
Like Iwsod says we haven’t heard your thoughts yet.

And I don’t want to be convincing. Its just that I want to share what I think is happening here and the development of the story over the past few episodes is part of that, whichever way we see it unfolding. Maybe we just get to paint lots of different pictures with our words as we describe what we see happening. I think that is kind of fun.

Can anyone see any big reason why the ep order must be a certain way? (you know, like how car wars needed to be before a little sex, a little scandal?!) so far I’m not seeing it.. but maybe I’ve missed something..

NO!!! There is no reason why it should be a certain way. When I realized that I could rework the order to deal with some of the airing order inconsistencies I was so happy, because even though I truly loved the show those issues with consistency bothered me. Then I started playing with the order to make the story make sense to me. I sometimes used the scripts as clues, like Leslie’s presence in the script for We’re Off to See the Wizard. I like to think about the story that the writers and the actors had in their head’s (although I don’t think the writers were as aware of the details of the story arch as the actors were). I think we each clue in to different aspects of the characters journeys and we can let the story unfold according to what we feel strongly the characters are experiencing. So we can all take different journeys. The best part is that we end up at the same place (mostly).

Nicely said, Morley! And I think you are maybe a little more invested or maybe just think about the depth of details more because of your fanfiction efforts? I think that if I wrote SMK fanfiction, I would have to give serious time and effort to episode order.

Oh I do that regularly (i.e, writing before thinking). In fact, I think that’s why my thesis isn’t done yet (rofl!) Seriously, I like what you wrote, Janet and you regularly have great thoughts. Keep sharing. Even when there are similarities, we’ll still describe things in our own words. Reading posts during the day, I’ll have different impressions of them. One or two words can strike a different thought in my mind hours later.

“[Okay this is freaking me out!!! Francine isn’t suppose to be nice, offer good advice or be especially charming in such a down to earth way!!! me thinks this was originally Amanda’s lines!!! Shudder!!! Guys.. I’m really scared. Foetal position scared!]”
This made me laugh so loudly that I had to spend ten minutes explaining the show and the blog to the bunch of twenty year olds sitting in my kitchen. Fetal position scared! I love it.

That opening frame must be a reference to the kind of fun that would be had at the Shenandoah Tennis Ranch after the big tourney. And Lee feels no draw towards it at all. We love to finally see it, Amanda doesn’t get the full reveal of the contrast because all that she has been privy to are their regular phone calls (three in two days?). Francine is encountering proof that there really has been something going on in Lee that has changed him dramatically and I think this time she can’t brush it off with a snide comment. I think she has seen glimpses of the change but didn’t believe it, or thought that given the right circumstances the old Lee would return, maybe if he just got some time away from Amanda all of the old camaraderie would be right where she left him. But the fact that Lee is evidently in an atmosphere that in the past they had enjoyed together and he has instead decided he would rather be on the phone with Amanda must be a real eye opener. That last screen cap of Francine as she walks away is telling. Look at the way she is sticking out her jaw.

I think Lee doesn’t mention Francine because he just doesn’t want to bring her into their current conversation. Maybe he didn’t want to remind Amanda of the previous call and Francine’s remarks, maybe he just wanted to stay focused on what he wanted to tell her. So I have to make the clunker not so clunky. Maybe Lee and Billy had gotten all of the details after they caught Donna and he could finally explain the nefarious plot in minutiae to Amanda… maybe? But we all know that wasn’t the real reason for the call. I think both Lee and Amanda, at this stage, are still hiding behind shop talk. They want to spend time with each other, call each other, hear each other’s voices and just connect often, but they haven’t had that “talk” yet and so they end up talking about the job. I bet they could go on forever about the case just so that they can keep talking to each other.

So I like this one after FFFT and I see that clumsy moment in the hallway in that episode as a set up for the way Lee gets so thoughtful here. He is trying to figure out how to communicate genuinely with Amanda. He has had those beautiful unguarded moments with her throughout the show, but now he needs to make that the regular mode of operation with her and I think it isn’t easy for him. In my thoughts at the moment OBDOBD is first, then FFFT and PFK (I wrote my stories in that order so my thoughts are lined up like that for now. Who knows, I may have to publish a second edition with order reevaluated). I think Lee enjoyed the way it felt to tell Amanda that she was special in OBDOBD and that is what he is trying to get in touch with here. How do you communicate to someone how much you missed them? He is letting Amanda know him. He didn’t say yeh, yeh, I missed you. He explained how and why. It was different, he missed the way they were together, their rhythm, their habits, everything about her, everything he has come to know about how they are together. He really missed her.
And I think that opened flood gates for Amanda. I do think she has been unsure of Lee lately, Not because he has gotten shady, but because she is contemplating trusting him with her heart and she needs to know that he will protect her heart and be true. I think that is why she responded the way she did in the hallway, and was a little short about him going off without her on this case. But she just heard the most wonderful thing and I think this is the point that Amanda begins to let her heart go. That smile is a new one, I think. And even though they can’t see the expressions on each other’s faces and only a telephone line connects them, I think they can feel each other’s joy and relief.
I am sure there are still a lot of unanswered questions and I don’t think Lee runs home and into Amanda’s arms, but something has been cleared out of the way and they are even freer to move forward in this new relationship.

Interesting thoughts here and I waffle about the episode order. I am leaning towards WWH, FFFT, OBD… and PFK (Oh My GOSH! – the actual airing order!?! Who would have thunk?) just for the fact I am charmed by Lee’s very clumsy attempt in the hallway with Amanda in FFFT and then realizing his old Scarecrow moves aren’t going to work Amanda. She is different. Francine’s behaviour also makes sense to me with PFK coming after – she is mad at herself for opening up to Amanda in the freezer, disturbed at the changes in Lee and is now lashing out at Amanda in self defense. I think if we had seen the script as written if KJ had been available (and YIKES! I agree that the slow dance scene would have been too fast for the relationship arc – I am assuming that would have been toned down) gives weight in my mind to keep the order as is. I am not sure if I am strong enough to watch this episode again to judge which order flows better, I can barely pay attention enough one time through. 🙂

fair enough! You’re happy with airing order? Stick with that! 🙂 I can’t see any reason they absolutely totally would be impossible to leave in that order 🙂

I’m leaving what was in the original script for PFK out of the equation – what’s in it doesn’t fit anyway.. and it was quite common for more than one script to be worked on at a time..and it wouldn’t be the first time a big Lee/Amanda scene was cut out. If I took the earlier script into consideration I think my head would hurt 😉 I’ll stick to what we got in the episodes 🙂 tee heee..

I do like this tag. The bits of this ‘old Lee versus new Lee’ (and yes, I think that’s what the first picture symbolizes, as Claudia pointed out) may be the best thing we get from this episode. And like Janet, I’m still iffy about episode order. I do think that Francine’s perspective here and in FFFT is relevant and honestly, I was sort of ready to dismiss it before. The ‘old team back together’ is her choice of words obviously. Professionally, there weren’t any good examples to show Lee and Francine as a team. But he spoke to Amanda for professional and personal reasons in this episode. He also tells her to call if she has anything. He wants her opinion and since it is obvious here, that does make this a good example of things changing for Lee professionally (i.e., as Iwsod pointed out). In the beginning of the show, he didn’t even want a partner. Now he only wants Amanda. It would be better for Francine to just accept the new Lee. She’s not ready for that here or in FFFT. It’ll be interesting to see when that happens. The exchange between her and Amanda in the freezer is her reaching her limit. I’m in agreement that it puts FFFT after this one.

Basing it just on Lee and Amanda (whether they moved forward more in this one or FFFT) is still sort of difficult. I’m stuck on the fact that if Amanda had been there, he wouldn’t have to go back to DC right away. Then they could have stayed and run up their expense reports together. I don’t know if Amanda’s missing presence or something else makes the difference in where they stand.

I’m going to try and watch PFK then FFFT then OBDOBD over the coming week and then I’m going to come back to all these fabulous discussions about ep order.
I’ve been reading what everyone has said, and playing with different ideas, story arcs, explanations.. and I’m finding there are two or three little things, plus two or three big over arching story ideas that I find particularly powerful in picking the order I’ll go with.If anyone else manages to re-watch the eps do let us know what you find 🙂
Sorry I don’t have the time right now to sink my teeth into all this but then.. no need to rush the walk right?!
I’ll be back when I can to respond to you all 🙂
byee for now!

Thanks for linking me, Jestress. 🙂 That one’s gonna turn into a longer one eventually, btw, because I think that specific issue (Lee changing and Francine not liking it) needs some more dealing with. 😉 Ok, ad-block over – let’s return to the subject at hand.

I definitely agree – old Lee is history. And the good old times are over. And Francine doesn’t like it. Of course not – as we know from FFFT, she’s got issues with people leaving and now, old Lee is leaving (well, actually has left the house), too. She only knows old Lee but not new Lee. Can she still trust him? Is he still her friend? That might sound a bit dramatic but throw into the mix that we’re in the spy business here. So I’d expect people to be a bit more “paranoid” than normal people. More hesitant to trust anyone. It’s only logical – be too trusting and you might end up dead. And even when you’ve known someone for years and years they still might turn out to be a double-agent (as we’ve seen in some episodes, if I remember correctly).

Uh, hold that thought – I’m gonna add more when I’m back on Saturday. Just noticing I have to run to catch my train. 😀

Meant to say Sunday and – I totally lost my train of thought. Too many things happening over the weekend at the live-roleplay I attended and I’m afraid Francine will have to take a back seat to the Scribe (my live-roleplay character) for a while because there’s been new developments and I’m super-excited about them. Sorry, Francine, you’ll have to wait your turn now. 😉

Well, the Scribe was there first anyways. And other than Francine, she’s not “adopted”, she’s an original character of mine … 😉 Well, I know a store here in Munich where they sell Swiss chocolate, that should be good enough for Francine. Very good, very expensive. XD Still means I’ll be making myself scarce here for a while. Reading but probably not writing much.

This is one of my least favorite episodes on the show. But it is nice to see Lee missing Amanda. That’s the consolation prize of this otherwise bad episode. Regarding the word “potpourri” I think one of the writers must really like that word. They use it several times during the series. I notice every time and find it annoying.

Yes, that was my thought exactly. But I also think it is meant to symbolise what (old) Lee would have done with his spare/relaxation time at the club. So when we do see Lee as he is now, not involved in any carousing but out of the scene enjoying an honest and relaxed conversation with Amanda, his transformation into a mature and dependable man (just what the doctor ordered for Amanda 😉 ) is really highlighted.

Hi Claudia so great to see you stop by! 🙂
This thought is really interesting!!! I knew Lee had a final phone conversation with Amanda (at the end of this episode).. though I didn’t remember the details – because it’s pretty big and memorable.. Which means – I overlooked this possibility!

I can see that yes, maybe they were trying to hint that was actually Lee there with the two women. Sounds a bit ridiculous after FFFT and OBDOBD and Lee’s devotion to Amanda and changes – but if PFK came first – this would be quite a big reveal they were aiming for in this final scene.. another play on the whole idea that it’s not like old times for Lee.
We don’t see the man’s face clearly and it is brushed over very quickly.. and Lee is behind Francine on the telephone -with his back to us.. It could be they were aiming to have us assume the guy we briefly saw with the two women was Lee..
Then, it cuts to Francine with the clients of the week.. and then.. after they’re done, Francine turns to Lee and surprise that’s him on the telephone behind her and he’s been there the whole time! Not the guy with the two women??? He’s on the phone with Amanda?? Kaaaapow!! It’s like along with Francine, they wanted the audience to have a big surprise here- along with Francine we really start to see that Lee is not the same Lee – he is really changing!!!
I quite like this idea- it works well if PFK is the first of the three eps.

though I think if FFFT and OBDOBD come before, as it did in the airing order, this meaning is lost as it is already well and truly known to the audience how much Lee has changed.

This episode is such a mess. I always knew it but seeing your breakdown highlighted several problems I never paid attention to before – where were the continuity people. And, did they have no time to do any rewrites at all when KJ had to leave. Still, I love the telephone scenes. I know that each episode contains 1-3 shippy scenes but this one seems like such a big step forward. I think that this episode should come before FFFT, but the reverse is defendable too.

Yeahhhhh eek.. sometimes the walk tends to highlight things best not highlighted! Oh well.. I just remind myself- I don’t watch smk for the intricate plots 😉 and.. it’s one of the thigns for me, that makes smk charming 🙂 tee hee.. all while I bang my head against a brick wall and cry why!!! why!!!!! Oh smk you could have done so much better!!! and.. then I go back to just accepting it and enjoying the walk. LOL!

Indeed this ep is ‘the telephone scenes’!
I agree Gail, it seems any order for PFK, FFFT and OBDOBD or FFFT, PFK and OBDOBD or OBDOBD, FFFT, PFK is defendable 🙂

I change my mind on a daily basis about the order of PFK and FFFT but for today I think I’m settling on PFK coming first because the tag with the chocolates in FFFT just seems to make more sense if Amanda is getting even – in the nicest possible Amanda way – for the way Francine talked to her on the phone. But then again, the freezer conversation where she calls her a witch and then says “oh you’re going to get me back ” and Francine agrees suggests that maybe that’s part of Francine’s behaviour on the phone? AArggh – Brain hurts.

My first thought about why Lee goes silent while holding the phone… He knows better than to engage Francine. We see that he’s not denying anything. Whether Francine thinks Lee’s choosing Amanda for professional or romantic reasons, he’s not going to argue…period. It’s not worth it, and he’d rather save his breath for Amanda… Haha…well…that could go either way, 😉

Yes, Francine’s conversation with Tony and Tina is very out of character. Wish they didn’t give Amanda’s lines to Francine. It just doesn’t work. There’s going to be a lot of fun discussions on this tag. I’ll have more to add later.

I haven’t had much to say about this episode because it’s been such a strange one. I’d like to know how this episode would have ended in the original script, though.

Francine definitely does not look happy at the end of the episode. She finally got what she’s been wanting for awhile: the chance to work with Lee in the field again. She enjoyed it, and she wants to party with him a bit afterward, like they used to on other missions that they did before, but Lee’s just not interested. I think Francine really thought that getting out in the field with Lee again would bring back all the old feelings and habits, but Lee’s kind of moved on from that. It’s not that Lee’s not still Francine’s friend and co-worker, but she’s definitely not the leading lady in his life, and the old things they used to do just don’t appeal that much to him anymore. The best thing that Francine can do now is to move on herself.

Hi Jestress!!! Great to see you stop by – Indeed ‘a strange one’ is a good description! I’ve concluded it’s worthwhile though 🙂
Thanks for recommending the fanfic Jestress – Feel free to link to fan fics here at JWWM that’s fine (if the author is happy with that) – but if you do – maybe also remind everyone to head over to Neds to discuss at leisure – JWWM is not for discussing fan fic content. Thanks! 🙂Nedlindger’s Fan Fic Thread

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